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(The  following  was  written  by  William  Everett  in  1876,  when  it  was  planned 
to  sell  the  Old  South  Meeting-house,  and  the  land  under  it  separately,  with  a 
provision  that  the  Meeting-house  must  be  torn  down.  The  movement,  in 
which  what  is  written  below  was  of  great  assistance,  was  successful,  and  the 
Old  South  Meeting-house  was  saved  for  us  all.) 


HERE  was  the  garden  originally  granted  to  John  Winthrop, 
the  great  governor;  and  here  he  died,  26th  March,  1649. 
Here,  after  Winthrop’s  death,  lived  Rev.  John  Norton,  chosen  by 
John  Cotton  on  his  death-bed,  as  his  successor,  and  called  by  Cotton 
Mather  “  the  chief  of  our  burning  and  shining  lights.”  Here  he  died 
6th  April,  1663. 

Here,  in  John  Norton’s  household,  was  bred  Increase  Mather,  to 
whom  New  England  and  Harvard  College  owe  so  much. 

Here  was  built,  in  1669,  the  first  house  of  worship  of  the  Third 
or  Old  South  Church,  which  withdrew  from  the  First  Church,  to  pro¬ 
vide  a  more  liberal  entrance  into  the  Church,  and  consequently  a 
wider  civil  franchise.  This  ground  was  given  them  by  Madam  Mary 
Norton. 

Here  Sir  Edmund  Andros  forcibly  caused  the  Episcopal  form  of 
worship  to  be  celebrated. 

Here,  in  the  Old  House,  in  1696,  Judge  Sewall  stood  up  in  his  pew, 
while  his  confession  of  contrition  was  read  for  his  share  in  the  witch¬ 
craft  delusion  of  1692. 

In  1691,  Josiah  Franklin  was  allowed  to  build  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood,  and  on  Jan.  17,  1706,  here,  in  the  old  meeting-house,  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  baptized. 

Here,  [perhaps]  in  the  same  year,  a  town-meeting  was  held  to  con¬ 
sult  on  fortifying  the  harbor  against  an  expected  French  invasion. 

In  March,  1729,  the  old  cedar  meeting-house,  which  had  stood  for 
two  generations,  was  pulled  down;  a  new  one  of  brick  was  begun 
forthwith,  and  here,  on  the  26th  April,  1730,  was  dedicated  this 
meeting-house,  the  existing  Old  South.  It  was  built  according  to 
the  best  taste  of  the  time,  and  forcibly  recalls  Sir  Christopher  Wren’s 
churches.  The  inside  has  undergone  repairs  and  renovations,  as 
have  the  contemporary  College  Halls  at  Cambridge  and  any  build¬ 
ings  of  that  age  that  have  received  equally  rough  usage.  These 
repairs  have  always  strictly  preserved  its  character. 


In  this  building,  in  October,  1746,  at  the  rumor  of  the  coming  of 
D’Anville’s  fleet.  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  the  pastor,  and  a  historical 
scholar  of  the  first  eminence,  prayed  the  Almighty’s  help — 

“  And  even  as  I  prayed 
The  answering  tempest  came; 

It  came  with  a  mighty  power, 

Shaking  the  windows  and  walls. 

And  tolling  the  bell  in  the  tower 
As  it  tolls  at  funerals. 

The  fleet  it  overtook, 

And  the  broad-sails  in  the  van 
Like  the  tents  of  Cushan  shook. 

Or  the  curtains  of  Midian. 

Down  on  the  reeling  decks. 

Crashed  the  o’erwhelming  seas, — 

O  never  were  there  wrecks 
So  terrible  as  these.” — Longfellow. 


When  the  colonies  came  into  collision  with  Great  Britain,  and 
Faneuil  Hall  proved  repeatedly  too  small  for  the  town-meetings  of 
the  patriots,  they  were  adjourned  here,  and  an  “Old  South  meeting” 
became  famous  to  Chatham  and  Burke. 

In  this  House,  on  June  14,  1768,  James  Otis  being  moderator,  a 
meeting  was  held  to  compel  Governor  Bernard  to  remove  from  the 
harbor  a  war  vessel,  stationed  to  enforce  the  odious  impressment 
and  customs  laws. 

In  this  House,  in  March,  1770,  after  the  Boston  massacre,  an 
overflowing  town-meeting  waited  till  night,  while  Samuel  Adams 
went  back  and  forward  to  the  State  House  till  Hutchinson  yielded 
and  withdrew  the  regiments. 

In  this  House,  on  Nov.  29,  1773,  a  meeting  of  five  thousand  citi¬ 
zens  resolved  that  the  tea  should  not  be  landed,  and  in  this  House, 
on  Dec.  16, 1773,  a  meeting  of  several  thousand  citizens  sat  till  after 
candlelight  listening  to  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  Adams, 
while  messenger  after  messenger  went  to  get  redress  of  Hutchinson, 
at  Milton.  He  refused,  and  at  the  doors  of  this  House  the  war-whoop 
was  raised,  the  citizens  disguised  as  savages  led  the  way  to  the  tea- 
ships,  and  the  tea  was  destroyed. 

Here,  June  27,  1774,  the  tories  attempted  to  capture  a  town¬ 
meeting  in  the  interests  of  Gage  and  the  Boston  Port-bill,  censure 
the  Committee  of  Correspondence,  and  nip  the  Continental  Congress 
in  the  bud,  and  it  sat  for  two  days,  ending  in  the  triumph  of  the 
patriots  and  the  sustaining  of  the  Committee. 

Here  were  delivered  the  series  of  orations  from  1771  to  1775,  com¬ 
memorative  of  the  Boston  Massacre,  by  Lovell,  Warren,  Church, 
Hancock,  and  for  the  second  time  by  Joseph  Warren,  three  months 
before  he  was  killed  at  Bunker  Hill.  He  was  introduced  through  a 
window  in  the  rear  of  the  pulpit,  the  aisles  and  steps  of  the  pulpit 
being  filled  with  British  soldiers  and  officers. 


Here,  in  1775,  by  order  of  General  Burgoyne,  a  riding  school  for 
British  troops  was  established,  pews  and  pulpits  being  torn  away 
and  broken  up;  and  when  Washington  made  his  triumphal  entry 
into  Boston,  in  March,  1776,  he  paused,  and  entering  this  building, 
looked  down  from  the  eastern  gallery  on  the  scene  of  desolation. 

Here,  finally,  for  a  long  number  of  years,  had  been  preached  the 
annual  election  sermon  before  the  governor  and  legislature  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts. 

The  ground  where  the  Old  South  stands, — the  old  meeting-house, 
first  built  there,  and  the  'present  meeting-house — have  been  the  scene 
of  some  of  the  greatest  crises,  guided  by  some  of  the  greatest  men 
in  our  history.  We  want  to  keep  on  this  ground,  where  such  things 
happened,  this  building,  in  which  such  men  worked. 

WILLIAM  EVERETT. 


The  interior  was  restored  in  1783,  and  the  South  Church  congre¬ 
gation  continued  to  worship  here  until  the  great  fire  of  1872. 

In  1874  the  South  Church  congregation  removed  to  and  occupied 
the  church  in  Copley  Square.  Thereafter,  in  1876,  the  Meeting¬ 
house  was  sold  at  auction  for  $1,350,  with  a  provision  that  it  should 
be  torn  down  and  removed  within  sixty  days.  It  was  intended  to 
sell  the  land  separately  for  $400,000.  On  the  Centennial  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  July  4,  1876,  a  “Town  Meeting”  was 
called  in  the  Meeting-house  to  protest.  Speeches  were  made  by 
Wendell  Phillips  and  others.  A  Preservation  Committee  was  formed, 
headed  by  the  Governor. 

The  building  and  land  were  bought  by  the  women  of  the  State, 
and  the  Old  South  was  saved  and  since  1877  has  been  held  as  a 
historical  monument  and  a  place  for  patriotic  inspiration  and  in¬ 
struction.  It  is  owned  by  the  Old  South  Association  in  Boston,  a 
corporation  specially  chartered  to  preserve  it. 

Among  the  many  objects  of  interest  in  the  Old  South  loan  collec¬ 
tion  are: 

Joseph  Warren’s  christening  cap 
Warren’s  day-book 
“Tea  Party”  tea 

The  Prophet’s  Bowl  from  Tippecanoe 
Musket  from  Battle  of  Lexington 
Model  of  “Old  Ironsides” 

(Made  by  one  of  her  crew) 

Bone’s  miniature  of  Washington 
Washington  letters 

Quilt  from  Martha  Washington’s  dresses 
Model  of  Boston  in  1775 
Old-time  household  furnishings 
Manuscripts,  broadsides  and  portraits 


5-20-20,000-RWn 


